East Asia at the Center

by Cohen, Warren I.

• ISBN13: 9780231101097
• ISBN10: 0231101090
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-01
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

A common misconception holds that Marco Polo "opened up" a closed and recalcitrant "Orient" to the West. However, this sweeping history covering 4,000 years of international relations from the perspective of China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia shows that the region's extensive involvement in world affairs began thousands of years ago.In a time when the writing of history is increasingly specialized, Warren I. Cohen has made a bold move against the grain. In broad but revealing brushstrokes, he paints a huge canvas of East Asia's place in world affairs throughout four millennia. Just as Cohen thinks broadly across time, so too, he defines the boundaries of East Asia liberally, looking beyond China, Japan, and Korea to include Southeast Asia. In addition, Cohen stretches the scope of international relations beyond its usual limitations to consider the vital role of cultural and economic exchanges.Within this vast framework, Cohen explores the system of Chinese domination in the ancient world, the exchanges between East Asia and the Islamic world from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries, and the emergence of a European-defined international system in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The book covers the new imperialism of the 1890s, the Manchurian crisis of the early 1930s, the ascendancy of Japan, the trials of World War II, the drama of the Cold War, and the fleeting "Asian Century" from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s.East Asia at the Centeris replete with often-overlooked or little-known facts, such as: A record of persistent Chinese imperialism in the region Tibet's status as a major power from the 7th to the 9th centuries C.E., when it frequently invaded China and decimated Chinese armies Japan's profound dependence on Korea for its early cultural development The enormous influence of Indian cuisine on that of China Egyptian and Ottoman military aid to their Muslim brethren in India and Sumatra against European powers Extensive Chinese sea voyages to Arabia and East Africa -- long before such famous Westerners as Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus took to the seasEast Asia at the Center's expansive historical view puts the trials and advances of the past four millennia into perspective, showing that East Asia has often been preeminent on the world stage -- and conjecturing that it might be so again in the not-so-distant future.

Author Biography

Warren I. Cohen is Distinguished University Professor of History at University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Table of Contents

Maps	xi
Tables	xii
Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xvii
The Emergence of an International System in East Asia	1	(61)
In the Beginning There Was China	1	(16)
Other Rooms, Other Voices	17	(2)
Empire of the Han, Challenge of the Xiongnu	19	(22)
The Diffusion of Power	41	(18)
China	41	(7)
Korea	48	(3)
Japan	51	(3)
Southeast Asia	54	(5)
Conclusion	59	(3)
Shadows Over Tang Splendor	62	(27)
The Sui	62	(4)
The Years of Tang Ascendance	66	(16)
Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia	82	(5)
Conclusion	87	(2)
East Asia Uncentered	89	(39)
Late Tang	90	(2)
The Tibetan Factor	92	(2)
The Demise of the Tang Dynasty	94	(3)
Northeast Asia	97	(4)
Southeast Asia	101	(5)
The Song reunify China	106	(8)
Koryo	114	(4)
Japan	118	(3)
Southeast Asia in Turmoil	121	(5)
Conclusion	126	(2)
The Mongol Ascendancy	128	(22)
Chinggis Khan and his sons	128	(4)
Khubilai Khan and the Chinese	132	(9)
Asian Resistance to Khubilai as Universal Ruler	141	(6)
The last days of the Yuan	147	(1)
Conclusion	148	(2)
The Resurgence of Chinese Power and the Coming of Islam	150	(33)
Rise of the Ming	150	(16)
Koreans, Japanese, and Ryukyu Islanders	166	(7)
Southeast Asia and the Spread of Islam	173	(6)
Ming China on the Eve of the Portuguese intrusion	179	(2)
Conclusion	181	(2)
Europe and Japan Disrupt the East Asian International Order	183	(33)
Arrival of the Portuguese	183	(6)
The Ming Under Siege	189	(5)
The Rise of Japanese Power	194	(6)
Other Europeans: The Arrival of the Dutch and the English	200	(4)
Southeast Asia: Magnet for the West	204	(7)
Last Days of the Ming	211	(2)
Conclusion	213	(3)
The Great Qing Empire	216	(29)
Rebuilding of the ``Chinese'' empire	216	(11)
Japan and Korea	227	(5)
Southeast Asia in flux	232	(7)
The Approach of the British empire	239	(4)
Conclusion	243	(2)
Triumph of the West	245	(28)
The British Are Coming	245	(13)
The Yanks Are Coming	258	(7)
France's Quest for Glory	265	(2)
Russia as a Pacific Power	267	(1)
And Then There Were the Dutch	268	(3)
Conclusion	271	(2)
The Ascendance of Japan	273	(30)
Restoration and Self-strengthening in China	273	(7)
The Meiji Restoration	280	(5)
Japan Ascendant	285	(6)
The United States as an East Asian Power	291	(4)
The Boxer War	295	(4)
In the Light of the Rising Sun	299	(3)
Conclusion	302	(1)
Challenge to the West	303	(35)
Development of the Japanese Empire	304	(6)
The Rise of Chinese Nationalism	310	(8)
Nationalism Elsewhere in East Asia	318	(4)
Washington and Moscow Look to East Asia	322	(6)
Nationalist Revolution in China	328	(6)
Crisis in Manchuria	334	(4)
War and Decolonization, 1932-1949	338	(32)
In the beginning It Was Manchuria	338	(3)
China Imperiled	341	(3)
War comes to Asia	344	(7)
Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere	351	(7)
The War Ends in East Asia	358	(4)
Decolonization in Southeast Asia	362	(5)
Conclusion	367	(3)
The Cold War in East Asia	370	(45)
The Occupation of Japan	372	(4)
Revolution in China	376	(7)
War in Korea	383	(7)
Southeast Asia and the Cold War	390	(14)
China, Taiwan, and the United States	404	(9)
Conclusion	413	(2)
The Resurgence of East Asian Economic Power	415	(34)
Japan as #1	415	(9)
Little Dragons	424	(11)
Southeast Asia	435	(6)
China Joins the World Market Economy	441	(3)
The Japan That Can Say No	444	(3)
Conclusion	447	(2)
On the Eve of the 21st Century	449	(36)
Disaster at Tiananmen	449	(5)
Democracy Comes to Taiwan	454	(5)
The Korean Peninsula: Democracy and Nuclear Weapons	459	(6)
Red Star Over Hong Kong	465	(3)
Crisis in Southeast Asia	468	(6)
Conclusion	474	(11)
Closing Thoughts	477	(8)
Notes	485	(10)
Further Reading	495	(8)
Index	503